Amazon announced today that Fire TV owners now have access to the HBO Go app. Those who already have an HBO cable television subscription can now watch shows like Game of Thrones and The Sopranos via the device, which is now $79 — Amazon today slashed the price by $20 for a limited time promotion that lasts until Dec. 28.
This is a key move for Amazon, as competing devices like Apple TV, Roku, and Google’s Chromecast already offered HBO Go.
HBO Go, which will also arrive on the $39 Amazon Fire TV Stick this spring, became available on the Xbox One last month.
Last April, Amazon signed a lucrative licensing deal with HBO to bring its content to Amazon’s own streaming service, Amazon Instant Video. HBO also announced in October that it will start selling a digital version of its service — sans cable subscription — by 2015.
Update, 2:25 p.m. — If you subscribe to HBO with Comcast, bad news — the Wall Street Journal reports that the cable giant is blocking its subscribers from accessing HBO content through the Fire TV. Amazon spokesperson Rachel Hass confirmed that Comcast is not supporting HBO Go on the device.
“We’d love to provide HBO GO for Comcast customers on Fire TV and encourage those customers to reach out to Comcast for further information on availability,” Hass said.
You can see if your cable subscriber is supporting HBO Go on the Fire TV here.
Update, Dec. 16 — Comcast now says it is meeting with Amazon in hopes of reaching some sort of deal regarding HBO Go authentication.
Meanwhile, Comcast has reached a deal with Roku to allow subscribers to stream content from HBO and Showtime with their Roku device.
